[Swingle]

Was headed south on I-41, close to the EAA grounds in Oshkosh WI, in my '29 Tudor. Felt a very little, slightly sideway jiggle, that came from the back of the Model A, and wondered what that was. Next thing I saw was a newly powder-coated Model A Rim and Tire passing me on the left.

Sounds stupid, but I remember thinking "Where did that come from?".

All this time, I was running on 3 wheels. Realizing that the tire free-wheeling down the road was mine, I slammed on the brakes, and headed for the shoulder. At the sudden reduction of forward motion, the rear end dropped to the ground as the car just managed to barely clear the fog line.

Meanwhile, I was watching my tire bounce south-ward down the divided highway, drifting left as it went. Each bounce was a little bigger than the bounce before. It finally edged into the center median/ditch, and picked up even higher bounces as it came out of the center ditch in the median. My big fear was that it would take a car out, or even worse, a person or persons.

I walked over a mile down the road, and found my tire on the shoulder on the north-bound side of traffic. Walked it back to my Tudor, and quickly realized that a Model A jack is designed to lift a car with a flat tire, not lift a car that is missing the wheel. The jack was too tall. I ended up putting the jack under the axle where it would fit, by the banjo, jack it up high enough so i could put my toolbox under backing plate, so I could reposition the jack actually get the rim back on the car.

Now I am missing 5 lug nuts. Original plan was to borrow one from each of the other wheels and limp to a parts store. A Good Samaritan was nice enough to stop, ask if I needed anything, and ran to the store to get some for me.

When I got back on the road, I got off the freeway, and took the highway the rest of the way home in Menomonee Falls. Do not think I took the car above 35 mph for the remaining 70 mile road home.